154 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Productivity 

 of Cut-Over 

 Lands 



Already Dem- 

 onstrated 



At various times large land owners in our territory have dis- 

 cussed with me the possibility of developing their lands but it has 

 always seemed to me that the fundamentals should be worked out 

 co-operatively. Especially in the matter of land-clearing is much 

 investigation necessary, and the expense of such an investigation, 

 which would be equally valuable to all, should not be a burden to 

 any one owner. Neither is it to be expected that any one state 

 should do it for all the other states. If the Federal Department 

 would do it, well and good, and an association could do well to 

 bring all possible influence to bear in favor of such an investigation. 

 However, if it is not done otherwise it would be an excellent activ- 

 ity for a co-operative organization of cut-over land owners. 



Mr. Carl Livingston, of the Forest Products Laboratory in 

 Wisconsin, and who will address you tomorrow, has some very val- 

 uable data and has done some great work. I went to Northern Wis- 

 consin to see one of his demonstrations and I have followed his 

 work closely. However, only yesterday in talking with me on 

 the subject he remarked : "You will be surprised to see how slowly 

 we are progressing in accumulating definite and dependable figures." 

 He mentioned the many difficulties which have confronted him, a 

 specialist in the work. I mention the matter to emphasize the fact 

 that you should not as individuals try to solve the problem. It is 

 a matter you should handle collectively. Just as the implement 

 dealers have financed the work of farm implement specialists for 



some of the state agricultural college e> tension departments, just 

 so could you land owners collectively, if you were organized, finance 

 such investigations as you, after study of the situation, might find 

 practical. 



It is true that the agricultural industry is not universally 

 and highly developed upon the cut-over land of the South and 

 that many details will have to be worked out. How^ever, every 

 speaker has emphasized his optimism as to the possibilities, so, 

 bearing in mind the many individual successes we know of on 

 cut-over land, the great study both State and Federal authori- 

 ties have made of the subject and their ability to cope with it 

 when the need arises, let us concede that we can raise the vari- 

 ous crops that have been mentioned. Let us concede that the 

 live stock industry has great possibilities on cut-over land, and, 

 in tomorrow's session, progress to the great questions of indi- 

 vidual and collective organization and administration and agri- 

 cultural demonstration which confront the cut-over land owner. 



